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September 8, 2009

Buffett, in crisis, still the Oracle

by Sam Savage

The financial crisis of 2008-09 has given billionaire investor Warren Buffett a chance to define his legacy, a Warren Buffet buff declared.

In the past year, he put a ton of capital to work, said Midway Capital Research and Management partner Justin Fuller, author of the Buffettologist, an online column about the so-called Oracle of Omaha.

The crisis gave him the ability to put one last and lasting impression on Berkshire Hathaway, Fuller said.

In the past year, Buffett invested billions of dollars in Goldman Sachs and General Electric. He also made bets on Wells Fargo, American Express and Bank of America -- firms that accepted billions in taxpayer bailouts.

Lately, Buffett's investment firm Berkshire Hathaway, has been pulling back from stocks and putting money into Treasuries and corporate bonds, the Times said.

We are not out of problems yet. We have got to get the sputtering economy back so it is functioning as it should be, Buffett said last week in an interview with the Times.

The newspaper said the economic downturn has handed Buffett a paper loss of $25 million since 2008, a reversal that knocked him from the top of the list of the world's richest people.